PICTURE: Lockheed delivers 400th C-130J

Lockheed Martin delivered its 400th J-model Hercules on 9 February, as operations with the global fleet have passed 1.7 million flying hours.

Transferred to the US Air Force Special Operations Command, the aircraft will be converted from its current MC-130J configuration into an AC-130J “Ghostrider” gunship.

Lockheed Martin

Seventeen nations currently operate variants of the “Super Hercules”, which is assembled at Lockheed's Marietta site in Georgia. The J-model airlifter was first flown in April 1996, with deliveries starting in September 1998, to the UK Royal Air Force.